Power generation facilities often need to temporarily store relatively large amounts of surplus energy. Conventional commercial energy storage systems (ESSs) typically follow a building model and are large enough for a human to enter an interior volume of the ESS, where the particular energy storage technology can be maintained and operated while protected from the environment. Unfortunately, a building model such as this implicates building codes and regulations, and adds to the cost and complexity of building an ESS. Such ESSs are also generally not scalable, so that as energy storage needs increase, it is necessary to construct more buildings. Each building has its own thermal management infrastructure, electrical distribution infrastructure, control and communications infrastructure, and the like. Constructing such buildings can take a relatively long time and can have a relatively substantial footprint, increasing space requirements.